Redemption: Book Review

I just finished Redemption, a novel written by Will Jordan. Jordan is a Youtube critic known as the Critical Drinker. I've always enjoyed his takes on the various movies that he reviews, so I wanted to check out his books, this one being the first of nine, to see if it was any good. His book is marketed alongside David Baldacci and Lee Child mystery/thrillers. I haven't read Baldacci yet, but I have read one Child novel, which I rather enjoyed, so I think I naturally compared the two. And since I have also read the novels of various Youtubers—including Justin Little, David Stewart, and Daniel Greene—I will also be comparing this book to those.

This book follows the protagonist, Ryan Drake, a British man who now works for the CIA. At the beginning of the book, he has landed a job in tracking down MIA operatives for the CIA, despite a problematic past he is ashamed of. In this novel he is asked to extract a highly trained MIA operative who is being held in a prison. The job is shady from the beginning, but Drake, desperate for an opportunity to redeem himself, agrees to take up the task.

What follows is a tense thriller with believable progressions of events and compelling characters that standout on the page.

Overall (No Spoilers)

Let's start by saying that this is by far the best book by a Youtuber that I have read up to this point. I appreciated this book far more than I did any of the other ones, both in terms of the professionalism of the writing, and in terms of raw enjoyment. Not only is it above the other Youtubers, but I would say that it is comparable to Lee Child's Reacher novels, as well.

The prose was good. It's what you expect for a thriller novel. I did not notice any clunky descriptions or cliche sentences. At the same time, I listened to the audiobook, which makes the prose more transparent. Either way, it was not something I was frustrated by.

I mentioned earlier that the book was believable. This is compared to some of the other books that I have read in this genre. There was a Ted Dekker book, Boneman's Daughters, that had a somewhat similar premise. And a problem I had with that book was that it kind of seemed absurd in certain respects. The believability of the events was on a thread with plot progression that seemed kind of contrived. Now, I don't have a formally articulated theory of what seems believable, and I advocate the idea that "believability" is not that same thing as realism: what is convincing is not necessarily accurate. As such, I am primarily following my intuitions here, and they very well could be biased. This is especially the case, given the fact that I was watching The Wire around the time of reading the Dekker book. The Wire was hyper realistic, and it made a lot of epic stories seem ridiculous. Either way, my intuitions were favorable to this book.

The characters were well done. Jordan knows when to slow down the progression of the story to allow the characters to develop and interact in meaningful ways. And the primary two character, Maras and Drake, had good chemistry over the course of the book. And the other characters were good side characters, including Dietrich and Cane as standouts (I listened to the audiobook, so I have no idea how these names are spelled). I think Dietrich is my favorite side character. In the beginning, I thought Jordan was going one direction that I hated, but he twisted things later on in a way that changed everything (I will elaborate in the spoiler section).

During the second half of the book, Jordan did an excellent job building up the tension and keeping the reader on the edges of their seat. The switching of perspectives helped add to this feeling, allowing the reader to string together an informational whole that transcended the information that any individual character possessed.

The final act was also great, with the fast-paced progression, mixed with the final plot twists, and the final fights between the protagonists and antagonists, all contributing to a great climax.

Finally, I really liked the ending. I'll save the details for the spoiler section.

As for things that I did not like, there were not many. One thing that comes to mind is that the main character, Drake, while fleshed out and given some back story, in retrospect, kind of seems like a generic thriller action hero. This really isn't a major criticism, I cannot stress that enough. I thought nothing of it throughout the reading of the book. It's just that in retrospect, I imagine he could be placed at the head of any thriller novel. I'm not sure what truly distinguishes him.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. I will give it an 8/10.

Strides (Spoilers)

For spoilers, I want to talk about Dietrich's character. In the beginning, I did not like the construction of the character because it seemed like he was a generic asshole piece of shit on the level of Draco Malfoy. Basically, it's someone who never receives a redemption arc, nor do they ever have a redeeming quality in the first place. Not only was the character a dick, but he made mistakes in the first operation that hurt their progress, despite suggestions that he was effective at his job. Jordan salvaged this by explaining his mistakes as being the result of a drug addiction, which he kicks and then demonstrates his bad-assery in the latter half of the book. We even get a Jack Bauer scene where he fakes the killing of a man's child in order to extract information.

Maras, or Anya, is another good character. At the end of the book, Drake mentions that he barely knows anything about her character. Despite this, I did not get that sense; I thought she was very much on the page. She is a good example of a strong female character done right. She is a monster, capable of killing almost anyone, and very good at her job. She has also lived a horrible life of extreme trauma that affects her to this day. The scene where she panics at the shopping mall was a good way to show her vulnerabilities in a believable way. Her situation at the prison is also well done, showing the brutality of her experience, and showing how even a person like her can be brought low.

Cane is the last character I want to talk about. He is the villain of the story, which I liked, and I especially liked how it ended. This book showed the power of institutional inertia and its preservation of the status quo. Cane was outed, but he knew what strings to pull in order to save himself, even if it meant keeping around the people who know his skeletons. I also like the ambiguity of the end, given that he is fearful of Anya and what she was likely to do to him, now that he had managed to get away from justice.

I don't have any spoiler thoughts about my problems with the story.

Conclusion

Overall, I enjoyed the book. I will give it an 8/10.